senator durbin. rex madam secretary, thank you for being here. four years ago, in number of your colleagues encouraged you to take on this responsibility. believing he would have a profound impact on the world -- you would have a profound impact on the world and you have. thank you. i also want to say word on behalf of ambassador rice, an extraordinary individual. u.s. serve this country well. some of the criticism heaped on her was unfair and the not reflect the fact she was reporting the best information she had available at the time. as you have said, more information became davis -- available and it was reported. i do want to make a point about whether the american people are told everything right way in the right way so they can be fully informed. i would like to refer to five words for them to reflect on -- iraqui weapons of mass destruction. we were told by every level of government here there were iraqi weapons of mass destruction to testify in a war. we're still searching for those weapons. they did not exist. thousands of americans lost